Clearly,
I didn’t appreciate the European teams enough when I put together some
predictions for the last round, I may or may not have learned from it. Here are
my quarterfinal predictions…
Norway vs England
It’s
been a strange tournament for Norway, they’ve not looked the business for a
long time but the stars have at least aligned to get them to the last eight. The
Football Girls have generally dealt well with – or found enough luck – to get
through each of their first four matches mostly unscathed.
A
“dark horse” for many coming into the tournament, it’s hard to say that England
have lived up to the hype, but they’ve also racked up four wins from four,
seeing off four very different opponents. With talk of a virus sweeping the
camp, uncertainties over the defence and the suggestion that Phil Neville is
rotating too much, possibly even unaware of his strongest starting XI, Norway could
be England’s biggest test this summer.
For
me, this is the hardest quarterfinal and could be a wash out OR go all the way
to penalties. I still don’t trust the Norwegian defence and think England will
nick it.
France vs USA
The
quarterfinal people were talking about before the group stage was even over, the
two favourites (depending on who you ask) will square off in Paris in a couple
of days and opinion seems to be very split. France have yet to find consistency
this tournament and the USA were given a little scare against Spain – as Les Bleues
were against Brazil.
Historically
a team that struggles in tournament, I haven’t seen anywhere near enough from
France to think they’ll find a way beyond the ultra-confident US team.
Italy vs Netherlands
It
seems unlikely that too many people could have predicted this quarterfinal before
the tournament started but here we are. The Dutch haven’t been on a song but
have reached the last eight for the first time in their history as Italy have
navigated their first World Cup for 20 years with aplomb.
Although
the team began to look leggy against China, I think they have enough in the bag
to get through another 90 minutes and will be keen to assert themselves against
a Dutch team that is yet to fully show up this summer. The match, played in Valenciennes,
will pit the Azzurre against 11 Dutch players and what is likely to be a very
loud, very orange crowd but I think Italy have what it takes to reach the last
four.
Germany vs Sweden
It
feels like we’ve seen this match before, countless times, and we have. Two
teams who always seem destined to face each other at major tournaments, the
history is very much with Germany.
Having
lost to the Germans earlier this year, few are expecting the Swedes to come out
and bring the match to Germany – Peter Gerhardsson’s team far from perfect this
summer anyway. Although if feels like it’s time for Sweden to get one
over on the Germans – who themselves have failed to live up to the billing this
tournament – it’s hard to see how and where it will happen. The last quarterfinal
to be played, it looks an awful lot like Germany will be the last team to book
their spot in the semi-finals.
